


Despacito

by InfernallyYours



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Competition, Coran is Allura (Voltron)'s Uncle, Coran is Emo, Emo phase wasn't a phase, Free Panera, Hamilton References, Just enjoy, Karaoke, basically fluff, so is keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-07 06:37:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16849003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfernallyYours/pseuds/InfernallyYours
Summary: “Anyway, the rules are as follows. Those little screens at each of your tables? You’re going to be assigned a person on the other team to choose songs for. As long as it’s in our database, you can choose it. The other player must sing it, or their team will risk being down a point. Any attempts to sabotage the singer while singing will result in the loss of a point for the offending team. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the round will win the grand prize!”“Free Panera!”Basically the college karaoke AU nobody asked for, but TOTALLY needed to happen.(UPDATE) This is on hiatus for now, we need to recharge our creative batteries. Sorry for anyone awaiting an update! Thanks guys!





	1. Prepare to have your tiny gremlin ass handed to you.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sznups](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sznups/gifts).



> So yeah. This is the brain child of two bored senseless sisters over the course of a too long break from watching the show and realizing the likelihood of Lance McClain knowing spanish while listening to the song Despacito for the 600th time in a few days. We started it ages ago and here I am posting it now. Enjoy guys! Leave kudos and comments if you please, I love seeing them!  
> Shout-out to sznups, for her awesome works and comments! This one is for you, love!  
> Also, my sister helped me write this so co-written with @dreaminamaranthine on tumblr. AO3 wouldn't let me put it in the co-authors section, so put it here. Sue me for loving my sister.

“That’s what makes you beautiful!”

The final chord of the catchy hit rang out for a second before a series of cheers and whoops were heard from a group of college students sitting on the plush couches.

“I love you guys!” shrieked a dark-skinned girl with silvery hair, who had narrowly avoided clocking her pale-haired companion as she threw her hands up in a victory-v. 

“And we love you too, m’lady,” said a tan boy with an absolutely infectious smile. He shot a wink at the silvery-haired girl, who started guffawing. At the other end of the couch, a boy with dark hair frowned a little and readjusted his folded arms.

“All right, all right, that’s what I’m talking about!” yelled the announcer, a rather excited young man with a dirty beanie and pale hair, whom everyone called Rolo. “This is where the real fun happens, alright? Because we are now entering what I like to call  _ The Final Countdown!!” _

“You can stop it with the shitty puns now, Rolo,” said a blonde girl dryly, sitting on a couch away from the main group. “And no one thinks you’re cool because you made a reference to Hamilton.”

“S-Shut up, Nyma!” Rolo stuttered. Pidge smirked and elbowed Lance at that one, mouthing  _ someone’s in love _ . “Anyway, the rules are as follows. Those little screens at each of your tables? You’re going to be assigned a person on the other team to choose songs for. As long as it’s in our database, you can choose it. The other player  _ must  _ sing it, or their team will risk being down a point. Any attempts to sabotage the singer while singing will result in the loss of a point for the offending team. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the round will win the grand prize!”

“Free Panera!” Hunk cheered, high-fiving the people nearest him, in this case Lotor and Keith. Keith cracked a grin; he could never stand to make Hunk upset.

“How’re we splitting up the teams, everyone?” Rolo turned to address the group, holding a small device in his hands. “I need to enter it into the server.”

“I call Matthew,” Pidge said immediately.

“Oh, it’s  _ on  _ like  _ Donkey Kong, _ ” hissed Matt, slamming his fist on the table. “Prepare to have your tiny gremlin ass handed to you.”

Pidge just smiled like a demented kid on Christmas who had just been given a chainsaw.

“I think I can take Allura,” Lance smirked, shooting Allura a sly look.

“Oh, it’s not going to be a problem,” Allura replied with an almost evil look of glee. To her side, her light haired companion pouted, pulling pathetically at her fingers to gain her attention. Once her ocean-like eyes settled upon his long, lithe figure, he gazed at her piteously. 

“But then who am  _ I  _ supposed to battle then?” Lotor purred seductively, still playing with her long tan fingers. Allura only rolled her eyes and glanced over the couch opposite her, evaluating each person. Shiro caught her eye and nodded in Keith’s direction with a small grin that spoke of pure mischief. Allura mirrored this, and spun on Keith, causing him to eye her warily, knowing the types of bad things that happen when Allura got excited. (Pidge’s 16th birthday, never again)

“Oh but babe, I’m sure  _ Keith  _ would  _ love  _ to be your opponent,  _ wouldn’t you Keith??”  _ Allura’s voice had taken a mildly threatening tone as she pretended to ask Keith. It was clear this was no request, if Keith knew anything about Allura. He debated for a moment whether he had a chance of winning a battle of wills against Her Majesty of the Stubborn, but quickly dismissed the idea once he saw Shiro’s overly eager face. He threw up his gloved hands in surrender with a groaned “Fiiiiiinnnneee……”

Lotor grinned at him, and Keith couldn’t help but smile a bit back in return. While the two boys weren’t besties or anything, they enjoyed messing with each other. This opportunity to make Lotor sing anything Keith chose was a sweet opportunity that he was not eager to pass up, and it was likewise on Lotor’s end. 

“Well, I obviously choose the best man in the room to be my partner. Hunk! Get ready to sing for me!” A tall and curvy girl giggled, as she made her way over to the startled looking Hunk, who was caught mid-munch of a slice of pizza. He managed a small hum of surprise as Shay plopped herself on the couch beside him and smiled prettily up at him, cuddled into his arm. He swallowed the last of his pizza and readjusted his trademark bandana around his head with his free hand, while Shay pulled his other hand around her shoulder. Hunk gave a pleading look in the general direction of the group, all of whom gave him apologetic shrugs and smiles. Lance knew his best friend though and whispered to him over Shay’s head, “Don’t worry bro, you don’t have to sing alone. We can pull a Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun thing, you know? You don’t have to be alone.” Hunk relaxed visibly at his friend’s reassurances and smiled. 

Rolo chose the worst moment to intercede. “Actually, uh, house rules say it’s gotta be indivi-,” Rolo was cut off by a murderous look given by literally the entire group, minus Hunk, who had turned pale again. Shiro was the one to break the tense silence. 

“I’m sure you were mistaken, ah, Rolo? Was it?” His voice could have rivaled ice. Keith got up off the couch and stalked his way over, leaning against the table nearest Rolo. He pulled out a pocket knife and began fiddling with it, meanwhile staring a hole into Rolo’s head. 

“I believe Shiro asked you a question, Candyman. What’s your answer?”

Rolo mumbled something quickly and became fascinated by the floor. Lance came up to him and grabbed his chin, forcing it up. “I don’t think Shiro could hear you, man. You better speak up.” 

Rolo threw his hands up in front of his chest in a panicked surrender. “Yeah! Yeah, totally! Group performances, totally a thing! Go right ahead guys, don’t mind me!” Everyone smiled, and the relaxed atmosphere returned full force, while Rolo ran off behind a speaker to hide his terrified face from the giggling Nyma. Keith returned to his seat, and slid the knife back in his pocket. As he passed Hunk, he put a hand on his shoulder, silently communicating his support of the yellow loving man. Hunk smiled at him, and Keith continued back to his seat, where both Holt siblings began praising him for his badass intimidation skills. Pidge tried to get him to give her a knife, but was quickly shut down by literally everyone. 

“Thanks man,” Hunk whispered, brown eyes gratefully locking onto blue. Lance grinned in response.

“Of course! What are best bros for?” They bumped fists and Hunk finally raised his voice to speak to the group.

“Let the music continue! Let’s go guys!” Everyone cheered. 

“Wait, but who’ll be Shiro’s partner?” Pidge finally raised her voice, after doing some quick mental math and determining they were currently an odd numbered group. Shiro tried to shrug it off saying he wasn’t a good singer anyway, and that he’d rather just enjoy all their singing, but was quickly shut down by Matt proclaiming, quite loudly, that “No boyfriend of mine will be left out of a general fool-making-of-ourselves event, so long as I have any say in the matter!” He promptly then kissed Shiro smack on the lips and dashed out to make a quick phone call, amongst whistles and catcalls from the rest of the group.

Lance and Shay took to teasing Shiro about his overly affectionate boyfriend, a discussion that Pidge soon joined. Keith watched from the sidelines, helping both sides with random interjections, making everyone hate and love him at the same time. Lotor began playing with Allura’s long silvery hair, braiding and twisting it, only to undo it and pet her like she was a cat. Allura herself was laughing at all of them, but in particular Shiro’s embarrassed red face as Pidge made some particularly lewd jokes, for which Lance fist-bumped her. Hunk went off to find more snacks, and was just returning with a barely not overflowing pitcher of root beer when Matt waltzed back in looking entirely too proud of himself. Pidge immediately took a position that resembled the tornado drill pose, curled into a ball, arms locked over her head, carmel eyes peering distrustfully out from above her knees.

“Matthew Holt, what did you  **do** ??” Her voice held the sound of someone who didn’t know what was happening, but knew from massive experience that it couldn’t be good. Matt’s smile only grew as he pushed Lance over so he could sit next to his boyfriend, taking his time to get adjusted before answering Pidge.

“Why, my little Pidgeon. My dearest, most lovely younger sister. I am hurt by your lack of trust. Why would you assume I had done something to deserve such cruel treatment? I can’t believe my own flesh and blood can show me such hurtful behavior! My heart! My poor, abused heart, can you hear it cracking? Hunk! Listen to my breaking heart!” Matt cried, grabbing the clueless Hawaiian by the front of his yellow t-shirt and yanking his face down to his chest. Poor Hunk jumped in fear, resulting in a glare from literally everyone else. Matt took the hint and let go, moving his hand to cover his heart.

“Luckily, my heart is large enough to forgive this transgression, young Pidge,” he sighed dramatically. Pidge kicked his shin.

“Let’s have Shiro go last, so that way his...partner has time to get here,” Allura said, hesitating slightly on the word  _ partner _ . “I will go first.”


	2. No one could deny that Allura Altea had one of the best sets of hips in the tri-state area.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still help from the sis, so thanks to her! Sorry it took so long to update, finals suck in case you were curious! Enjoy the update, please leave plenty of kudos and comments below, I love seeing them!   
> Also, CAN YOU GUYS BELIEVE IT SEASON 8 IS OUT TODAY??? AHHHHHHHHH!

Lotor grinned, a full-tooth smile that lightened his entire face. He turned to the others and pointed at Allura, mouthing  _ that’s my girl _ . Lance smirked evilly, cracking his knuckles and making a grabby motion to Rolo, who passed him the handheld song selector. Lance took a moment to scroll through the song selection, pausing every so often to consider a song before continuing on. This process went on for a minute or two before Lance’s eyes lit up like a laptop screen when it was plugged into a charger. Snickering wickedly, he tapped a few things before leaning back with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

The speakers began pumping out a familiar beat - none other than the Shakira classic “Hips Don’t Lie”. Allura grinned and raised her fist in the air, cheering. She moved her hips in a circle, like she was hula-hooping. Lotor’s eyes widened imperceptibly and only Hunk and Keith, the closest to him, noticed that his grip on the couch cushion had tightened. Hunk gave him an understanding smile and patted his arm, while Keith gave him a half-apologetic look. No one could deny that Allura Altea had one of the best sets of hips in the tri-state area. 

“Oh baby when you talk like that, oh it makes a woman go mad,” Allura crooned, giving Lotor a sexy side-eye that made him swoon a little. She jammed to the male singer’s spanish while continuing to sway her hips-pilates had  _ not  _ been wasted on her. Matt gave a loud wolf-whistle when Allura slunk over towards the couches and slid her hand from the top of her head to waist seductively, all while Lotor looked on the verge of mental breakdown. She proceeded to perch herself on Lotor’s lap, resulting in a small whimper escaping him, as he shut his eyes and appeared to be holding his breath. Both Shiro and Hunk’s eyes widened as the rest of the group, especially Pidge and Lance, roared with laughter. Allura herself seemed to be enjoying all this too much and stood up and sashayed back to the stage confidently. Lotor’s eyes didn’t open again until the song ended, no matter how much Lance tried to convince him to. Allura slipped back over to him and whispered something in his ear that made his already flushed face turn an even darker shade of crimson. Then she marched the microphone back to Rolo, who stared slack-jawed at her for a moment before weakly taking back the microphone from her. Matt gave her a high-five as she returned to her seat and Keith sent her an approving grin. Lotor was still too shaken to respond. 

“Uh, and there you have it ladies and gentlemen, Miss Allura Altea,” Rolo managed to stutter out, with no small amount of difficulty. “Now for her competition, Mr. Lance McClain!”

Allura snatched the song selector from Lance’s hand, and wasted no time in cackling like a witch and gleefully selecting the first song she saw. “This seemed only fair Lance. Enjoy!” 

Pidge and Hunk cheered extra loudly as Lance bowed and accepted the mic. A moment later, the beat of none other than Britney Spears’ Circus began thumping out of the speakers. Lance began tapping his toe to the rhythm before matching Britney’s singing near-perfectly. Keith shrunk down into the seat of the couch, hoping the poor lighting would disguise his blushing face. Based on the knowing look Hunk gave him, it didn’t. 

Lance began approaching the beginning of the first chorus and shot Pidge a look that could only be described as a “Watch Me” look. Pidge’s eyes widened.

“Oh my Degrasse-Tyson,” she mumbled. “There’s no way…”

“No way what?” Shiro asked.

“He’s going to do it,” she breathed as her eyes locked on Lance’s. He winked at her as the chorus dropped and jumped into the air, coming down into a perfect split. Everyone screamed, and Pidge fell out of her seat. 

“You did NOT!” She yelled. Lance grinned, and that officially marked the end of Keith Kogane’s life. Hunk began poking him to make sure he was still breathing. Shay elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs, mouthing  _ Leave him be.  _ Hunk gave him one last concerned look before going back to cheering on his best friend. Keith’s eyes were opened twice as wide as normal, nearly popping out of his skull, and his mouth was dropped in a small, shocked ‘o’. 

“There are only two kinds of guys out there; those who can hang with me and those that are scared,” Lance crooned. Matt whistled and called “Option one, all the way!”

The entire group roared with laughter when Lance responded to this with a kiss blown in Matt’s direction, while Matt himself blushed.

Finally, the song ended, much to Keith’s relief. Lance took a largely theatrical bow, and returned the mic to Rolo.

“WHO DARES ENTER THE RING AFTER MY TALENT??” Lance boomed in his loudest voice. To be fair, it wasn’t as scary as it sounded. Lance was practically crackling with leftover energy from his performance.

The door to the bar banged open and everyone turned to see a tall, ginger man with a mustache standing there, looking ready for a showdown. He wore a loud, Hawaiian printed shirt with khaki cargo shorts and a socks and sandals combo topped the whole ensemble off. He looked...well, no one knew. He was wearing sunglasses that hid his eyes.

“Uncle Coran!!” Allura squealed, scrambling off of Lotor’s lap to hug the new arrival. “I thought you were still on vacation in Fiji!”

“I got back this morning, my dear girl!” Coran beamed. “And then Mr. Holt called me and said you needed a tenth player for karaoke, so I came! Who is my rival in this trial of talents?”

“SHIRO!” 


	3. Yeah yeah, we're all besties here, even the Mullet.

Everyone pointed to the now slightly embarrassed man. He awkwardly waved, and tried to smile, but it quickly became a failing attempt in the suddenly intense and focused face of Coran. Even his mustache seemed to be quivering with a sudden competitive energy. His  _ mustache.  _  Directly next to Shiro, Matt sat curled into his boyfriend’s side, trying in vain to stifle the mad laughter that was aching to burst from him. Shiro glanced over at him with a look of “You’ll be in  _ so  _ much trouble later”, and stood to shake Coran’s hand. Matt seemed to decide that he was already in as much trouble as he could get into, and freed his laughter. Allura sooned joined him, followed by everyone else, while Coran solemnly shook Shiro’s hand like they were knights preparing to square off in an honor duel. Shiro looked like he wished he’d fought harder to not be involved in this. Keith smirked evilly in the background and stealthily pulled out his phone, aiming it at his brother and hitting the record button. 

“Now then,” Coran clapped his hands together and looked at the group expectantly. “How do we choose a song?”

Allura demonstrated it to him and Matt’s face looked like was about to break from the size of grin it wore. Coran began to scroll and fairly quickly found a song, while the rest of the group chattered easily amongst themselves. He then proceeded to sit directly in between Allura and Lotor, neither of whom looked very happy with this development. The words  _ Baby Got Back  _ flashed across the screens, and everyone shrieked with laughter, and giving Shiro approximately two seconds to suck in a breath before bursting into rap.

Shiro, the unofficial official dad of the group, the one who texted in complete sentences, the one who to this day still watched Bambi and cried, rapped like some kind of  _ god.  _ He didn’t miss a beat, nor a word. Hunk and Lance’s mouths hung wide open, Pidge fell off her chair again and lay gasping on the ground in between loud cackles of laughter, Matt kept yelling “That’s MY boyfriend!”, Shay and Allura clung to each other and giggled uncontrollably, Coran seemed to be taking mental notes on his performance, and Keith? Keith was smugly grinned as he continues filming, even when Shiro finally noticed and flipped him off as he continued rapping. 

“Baby got BACK!” Shiro finally yelled out, the song coming to a close while Shiro gasped for breath. Keith was the first one to his feet, whooping and giving Shiro a side-hug. Matt was next, kissing him so passionately that a few “Get a room”s were called. When Pidge could finally rise from the ground, she screeched, “WHERE did YOU learn to RAP like THAT?? HOW??  **_HOW???_ ** ” 

Matt pulled back and looked questioningly to Shiro. “Yeah, I’d like to know that too, Sir Shiro-sa-lot.”

Shiro laughed uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head. “Ah...well….”

Lance shot to his feet. “That was a set-up wasn’t it? Shiro knew Coran would choose that song, so he prepared it in advance!” He pointed an accusatory finger at Shiro. “Am I right or am I right?”

Keith snorted and stepped forward. “It’s actually my fault.”

“Huh?” Lance’s finger dipped with uncertainty.

“Yeah, I second that, huh?” Hunk called out. Everyone except Shiro questioningly faced Keith, who grinned a little and began explaining. 

“So when I first moved into the Shiroganes as a foster kid, I’d never really gotten a choice in much of anything: not my clothes, or my hair-”  
“And that’s the -do you chose, Mullet?” Lance muttered, eyeing him disbelievingly.

“-or anything. So I also didn’t get to listen to much music, or if I did, I never got to choose what it was. The first music I ever listened to that I really liked was rap, specifically this song. I listened to it 24/7, on loop. Shiro and I learned all the words and it became our thing. He shrugged nonchalantly to all their thunderstruck looks. “Not that hard really.”

“The part that he’s not mentioning,” Shiro interjected, “is how this is also the time when we were discovering his emo phase, wasn’t a phase. This is one of the few songs that he liked that wasn’t by like Firestorm or World’s Destruction or Falling Boys, or whatever.”

“It’s Fall Out Boy and you can judge them as much as you want, they’re good,” came Keith’s immediate response. 

“I rather liked My Chemical Romance,” Coran piped up. Everyone turned to look at him with varying levels of surprise coloring their expressions.

“Weren’t you like...old when they became popular?” Lance asked hesitantly. 

“Oh definitely!” Coran beamed. “But I always admired the passion and soul in their lyrics. Not to mention how catchy they were. I even saw them in concert once! It was magnificent.”

Keith looked like he might cry. So did Lotor.

“In that case…” Shiro leaned over, scrolling furiously through the songs on the selector. He chose one and leaned back with a self-satisfied look. Moments later, a piano’s G note rang out like a crystal had been struck, causing both Keith and Lotor to sit bolt upright. They looked at each other, to Coran, back to each other, before collapsing back onto their respective seats in shock. Coran saluted Shiro with a joyful look on his face, and took the microphone. He inhaled deeply, and sang the iconic starting lyric “When I was, a young boy…”

For a man of his age, Coran’s voice was surprisingly strong. Keith began to film again, his hands slightly trembling. Lotor had snuggled into Allura’s side, his eyes wide and-dare anyone say it-vulnerable. My Chemical Romance had been an anchor for him in dark times growing up in his family, however cliche it sounded. Now, even though he was independent and estranged from them, the songs still took him back and reminded him of the scars. Allura rubbed his arm soothingly, and held him close, smiling at her uncle’s obvious passion. Lotor squeezed her hand gratefully, and relaxed slightly against her. 

When the song finally concluded, Coran was flushed in the face and more than slightly out of breath. He still however managed a flourishing bow that could have easily befitted a queen and a grin bright enough to light up Manhattan.

“Uncle Coran, you were marvelous!” Allura cried, clapping madly. Pidge nodded rapidly in agreement. “Truly Coran, that was awesome.” Everyone agreed and cheered more for the gorgeous man. He thanked them all, and turned to Keith.

“Keith, my boy, what did you think as a true fan of the music?” 

There was a pause, then Keith smiled one of his rare, full teeth smiles that lit up his face. “Gerard Way couldn’t have done it better Coran. You rocked.” Whoops rang out from the group to punctuate his statement, and Coran’s grin grew with pride. He returned to his seat (still between Lotor and Allura, much to their chagrin), and held the song selector in one hand above his head.

“Who is Keith’s partner?” He asked the group at large.

“Oh no, Coran, please don’t make me-” Keith began.

“That would be me,” Lotor proudly announced, grabbing the song selector as he shot a devilish look at Keith’s groaning face.

“What, did you think you could just avoid having to sing for us, Mullet? Think we’d forget you?” Lance teased. 

Keith could only muster a semi-glare at Lance in his embarrassed state. “A guy can dream, can’t he? Not all of us enjoy performing for people or being the center of attention, Lance.” 

Shiro slid over to sit next to Keith, and knocked his shoulder with his. “Hey, you got nothing to worry about. You’re actually a pretty good singer, Keith.” Keith blushed and quietly denied the compliment. 

“Hey, Keith, no one’s going to judge you. We’re all friends here, right?” Shay called from the other couch. Hunk nodded next to her and sent him a thumbs up and a supportive grin. 

“Well…” Lance began, before Allura and Pidge both elbowed him sharply. He rolled his eyes and threw his hands in the air in defeat. “Yeah yeah, we’re all besties here, even the Mullet.”

“Thanks guys,” Keith said gratefully.

“Hmm, how evil should I be?” Lotor mused as he continued to scroll through the music thoughtfully. He tilted his head this way and that as he looked, the glow of the tablet making his hair look white. 

“On a scale of 1-10? 0,” Keith replied. Lotor flashed him a falsely innocent grin and pressed one long finger to the screen.

“10? Got it.” An almost techno-sounding beat filled the air, followed by the sound of a descending scale.  _ First Burn _ flashed across the screens and Keith spun around to glare at Lotor, as Lotor himself openly laughed. Keith grabbed the mic from Rolo and stomped to stand in front of the couches, feet planted defiantly apart and still sending a hateful glare at Lotor. 


End file.
